


A Bone to a Dog

by BuffyRowan



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-14
Updated: 2013-01-14
Packaged: 2017-11-25 10:59:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/638182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuffyRowan/pseuds/BuffyRowan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Reese couldn't afford illusions about who and what he was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bone to a Dog

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet was too small to justify using more of the quote, but the title is taken from a Jack London quote: A bone to a dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.
> 
> Quite apt for Finch and Reese, don't you think?
> 
> Anyway, first fic in this fandom, I hope it lives up to some of the others in this fandom :)

An operative with his particular specializations couldn't afford to have any illusions about exactly who and what he was. He was a dog, highly trained, intelligent, and loyal to a worthy master.

In the army, he was a dog much like Bear. A breed known for what it does, part of an honorable tradition. And as that dog of war, he'd worn the harness and gear of service.

With the CIA, he was more like one of the pitbulls the drug runners or gang bangers owned. Less for service, more for fighting and destruction. Then, he wore the heavy log chain and choke chain collars his handlers deemed most useful.

On the streets, he was just another mutt. Scarred, untrusting, willing to fight for the scraps he needed to survive. He'd worn no collar then, only the weeping sores from where the last collar had galled him.

Now, with Finch, he was a completely different animal. His new master didn't favor choke chains, or even traditional discipline. Now, he was run on a much longer leash, paired with a master who was more of a partner. Now, John was a wolfdog. Shy of humans, more dangerous to strangers due to his training and socialization before Finch, but for the most part he was no worse than Bear. But when necessary, when his master was threatened, the wolf inside him would rise, and there was no leashing it. And Finch cared for him as a good handler should.

It was amusing, watching Finch with Bear. Reese could see so clearly the pattern repeating itself, with Finch trying to keep Bear across the room at first, then letting him closer, then buying him the bed. Just as Finch had tried to keep distance between himself and the operative he'd hired, until he couldn't keep that distance anymore. No matter what Finch said about it, Reese knew the man was a dog person. 

It was all in how he cared for Reese and Bear, after all.


End file.
